This chapter deals with standard TF-1 which states that facilitators show a deep knowledge of technology operations and concepts. The performance tasks are to assist teachers in improving their practice (TF-1.A.1), helping teachers find resources (TF-1.A.2), and demonstrate continued growth in these concepts.
The real take-away for me was the importance of making teacher-training both relevant and “sticky” where they remember the skills when they are needed. The book quoted studies that showed that retention at most training was very low. As a former teacher-trainer this was not surprising. An hour or so of technology training with no context after a busy day of teaching is not an ideal situation. As a presenter, we want to make sure that the teachers can use the technology once the Professional Development (PD) is over. A constructivist learning model, as shown on the Learning Theories Knowledge Base website(2010, March), is the key to retention.
The authors stress the importance of making the training meaningful by embedding it in an authentic context. In other words, the context of learning the operations and concepts should be directly related to how the teachers will actually use them. When I planned PDs I strived to keep this in mind. I don’t want to overwhelm the teachers with more information than they need to get the job done. I would use the principle of backward design outlined by Wiggins and McTighe (2000) where you start with the end in mind, then plan backwards from there.
I would judge my success in this area by how well the teachers retained the information in the days and weeks after the PD. My colleagues in this master’s program were also dealing with how to implement this standard. When I would read their discussion posts they would often bring up the same issue I was having.
An example of this was when I needed to show quite a few teachers how to use their new laptops. At my current school site, there is rather senior staff that is not very proficient technologically. In other words, they are digital immigrants (Prensky, 2001), but they are not really sure they want to be in their new country. After having different teachers want me to come by and help them I realized I couldn’t continue this way. After all, I have my own classroom to keep running. I decided to have an “open house” on a certain day where I would be available after school to help anyone that needed it. This worked out even better than I had imagined as many of them had the same issues and I could take care of all of them at once. In the text, there was a section about the effectiveness of small-group coaching.
I believe one of my strengths as a facilitator and trainer is that I always keep the audience in mind. My principal would often say I kept the team on track by making them consider what the teachers were dealing with on a day-to-day basis. For instance, we made sure not to plan major PDs when there was a lot of pressure on the teachers due to assessment windows, programs, special events, etc. I vowed to never be the trainer that left the audience feeling that the presentation was a total waste of time. I want to continue to improve on knowing my audience and finding the best way to help them gain technology concepts and operations.
Learning Theories Knowledge Base (2010 March).at Learning-Theories.com. Retrieved March 18, 2010 from http://learning-theories.com
Prensky,M.(2001). Digital Immigrants, Digital Natives: Part 1. On the Horizon, 9(5), 1-6
Wiggins, G. & McTighe,J. (2000).Understanding by Design. Upper Saddle River, NJ:Prentice Hall
This chapter deals with standard TF-1 which states that facilitators show a deep knowledge of technology operations and concepts. The performance tasks are to assist teachers in improving their practice (TF-1.A.1), helping teachers find resources (TF-1.A.2), and demonstrate continued growth in these concepts.
The real take-away for me was the importance of making teacher-training both relevant and “sticky” where they remember the skills when they are needed. The book quoted studies that showed that retention at most training was very low. As a former teacher-trainer this was not surprising. An hour or so of technology training with no context after a busy day of teaching is not an ideal situation. As a presenter, we want to make sure that the teachers can use the technology once the Professional Development (PD) is over. A constructivist learning model, as shown on the Learning Theories Knowledge Base website(2010, March), is the key to retention.
The authors stress the importance of making the training meaningful by embedding it in an authentic context. In other words, the context of learning the operations and concepts should be directly related to how the teachers will actually use them. When I planned PDs I strived to keep this in mind. I don’t want to overwhelm the teachers with more information than they need to get the job done. I would use the principle of backward design outlined by Wiggins and McTighe (2000) where you start with the end in mind, then plan backwards from there.
I would judge my success in this area by how well the teachers retained the information in the days and weeks after the PD. My colleagues in this master’s program were also dealing with how to implement this standard. When I would read their discussion posts they would often bring up the same issue I was having.
An example of this was when I needed to show quite a few teachers how to use their new laptops. At my current school site, there is rather senior staff that is not very proficient technologically. In other words, they are digital immigrants (Prensky, 2001), but they are not really sure they want to be in their new country. After having different teachers want me to come by and help them I realized I couldn’t continue this way. After all, I have my own classroom to keep running. I decided to have an “open house” on a certain day where I would be available after school to help anyone that needed it. This worked out even better than I had imagined as many of them had the same issues and I could take care of all of them at once. In the text, there was a section about the effectiveness of small-group coaching.
I believe one of my strengths as a facilitator and trainer is that I always keep the audience in mind. My principal would often say I kept the team on track by making them consider what the teachers were dealing with on a day-to-day basis. For instance, we made sure not to plan major PDs when there was a lot of pressure on the teachers due to assessment windows, programs, special events, etc. I vowed to never be the trainer that left the audience feeling that the presentation was a total waste of time. I want to continue to improve on knowing my audience and finding the best way to help them gain technology concepts and operations.
Learning Theories Knowledge Base (2010 March).at Learning-Theories.com. Retrieved March 18, 2010 from http://learning-theories.com
Prensky,M.(2001). Digital Immigrants, Digital Natives: Part 1. On the Horizon, 9(5), 1-6
Wiggins, G. & McTighe,J. (2000).Understanding by Design. Upper Saddle River, NJ:Prentice Hall